Leaving Neverland
by DragonGoddess
Summary: AU taking place after episode 7 of the anime. Peter wishes to gain the strength and courage to protect. What would have happened if he had decided to go with Abel and Leon back to the Vatican rather then go to Albion with the rest of the children?


**You could call this a sort of AU type of fanfiction. Basically it takes place after episode seven of the anime (or after chapter one of RAM:II). It's the Neverland episode. My AU is going to explore what might have happened if Peter had gone with Abel and Leon to the Vatican instead of with the other kids to Albion.**

**Also for certain purposes, we are going to say the Neverland episode takes place four years prior to the rest of the series (since the episode did not have much effect on the overall plot of the series other then introduce Leon, hopefully this won't be too much of a problem with people :3 ). This is an idea I've had for a little while now, so I certainly hope you all will enjoy it.**

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_**Leaving Neverland**_

_**Prologue**_

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"I've read your report. It seems your mission was carried out perfectly despite the engine troubles you experienced in the beginning," the beautiful blonde cardinal glanced up from the paper. Despite the words of praise, her steely eyed gaze all but bored holes into the two priests and one young boy standing nervously at attention before her desk.

"Ah y-yes, thank you. We were quite fortunate to crash land at the actual target island," the thinner of the two priests replied, nervously pushing his thick glasses back up the bridge of his nose, looking very much like a child who done something he shouldn't have. A child who knew was going to get scolded and yet had crossed his fingers that he wouldn't be.

"And all of the vampires were destroyed, correct?" the crimson garbed lady slowly, almost deliberately, tapped her pen on top of the folder that contained the mission's report. An innocent enough motion in another situation, however to the trio that stood before her it might have been the sound of an executioner's footsteps, coming ever closer with a shining ax that would spell their end.

"Of course your Eminence," the burlier of the two priests smiled in a way he hoped looked relaxed an composed, however like the gangly silver haired man next to him he too looked like a child under the cardinal's scrutiny, "Down to the very last one. Professor Barrie had already skipped town so to speak, so at this time we-"

"I read that part. It can't be helped considering the circumstances. Someone might have tipped him off," she glanced from one nervous face to another, "Regardless, you have both done an excellent job eliminating a dangerous threat."

The priests seemed to visibly relax, Abel letting out a sigh of relief, whereas Leon's stiffened shoulders slumped ever so slightly. It seemed their prediction of a scolding had been wrong after all.

"However," Caterina continued, the tone of her voice made both grown men jump, and the young boy nearly squeak in surprise, "There are a few things I'd like to address in regards to your mission. The report you handed in was a little hazy on certain… details. Perhaps you'd like to clear them up for me?"

"Certainly your Eminence," Abel responded sweating bullets, shoulders stiffening again. He didn't like where this line of questioning was headed, "We wouldn't dream of hiding anything from you."

"First off, this survivor, 'Peter Anderson' you mention rescuing, that would be this child here I presume?" the Duchess of Milan pointed to the little blonde boy, though she looked pointedly at the two priests she was interrogating.

They both nodded simultaneously.

The story was that Peter had been one of the orphans adopted by Barrie who had not yet been converted. After Barrie had fled the island Peter supposedly had been held captive by the vampires, possibly for food later on. Upon discovering him the two valiant priest's had liberated the child and taken him with them as they simply couldn't leave someone so young all alone.

"That still doesn't explain why you brought him to Rome with you," the woman's red painted lips pulled into a slight frown, "As Vatican agents, you two should have the authority to place him into an orphanage with no difficulty. Why didn't you?"

"W-well…" Abel looked to Leon for a little support, the large tawny man shot him a glance back that wordlessly said he didn't know how to get out of this one. He opted for the truth, or rather fairly close to it, "He… well after seeing Father Garcia and I heroically defeat the vampires with amazing ease he expressed a great interest in coming to the Vatican with us and joining our division."

"How old are you child?" the cardinal's piercing eyes moved to Peter now.

"E-eleven…" the boy managed to squeak out. Normally he was a fiery and outspoken sort of kid, however he'd never felt so intimidated by anyone in his life before, aside from Barrie, and the anxiety that practically oozed from the two priests made him feel even more on edge.

"Eleven years old," she glanced sharply at the Crusnik, "Father Nightroad, do you really think a child is actually capable of being an AX agent?"

"Well... of course not, at least not right away," the thin priest fiddled with his glasses again. He really should have tried to come up with answers to questions he should have know would have been asked beforehand, "But I seem to recall your Eminence mentioning something a while back about starting an agent training program. Since we have so few field agents as it is, you seemed to think it was a good way to eventually add several competent members to our ranks," feeling a little more confident with his reply Father Nightroad placed a hand on the lad's shoulder, "I think Peter would be a perfect candidate to test the theory out."

"Yeah!" Leon nodded vigorously, adding on to what Abel had said, "The kid's smart enough to be able to survive amongst a band vicious bloodthirsty vampires, and he's pretty brave too. He was able to stand up to the fiends without batting an eye when he was helping Abel escape from their clutches. Kid got injured but-"

"Wait," Cardinal Sforza held out a hand, halting Dandelion's explanation, "Nightroad was captured? I thought your were able to heroically' defeat the vampires with 'amazing ease. Or is that detail of your report embellished as well?"

"Well that is-"

"You see the reason…"

Both agents babbled at once, and poor Peter's face had gotten pale. Had it been a good idea to go with these two after all? Maybe he really should have gone to Albion with the rest of the kids.

"Enough!" Caterina pressed her fingers to her temples in exasperation, both clergymen silenced immediately, "We'll discuss this later… as to the other rather pressing matter. This receipt…" she pulled a slightly crumpled sheet of paper from the folder before her and slid it across her desk for Abel and Leon to inspect, "Care to explain it?"

"A-ah yes that…" Abel gulped. He'd hoped with all the commotion regarding Peter that this would be simply overlooked, "It's well… You see it's part of our expense report."

"I can see that," the blonde spoke slow, her voice carefully measured as if she were speaking to a particularly slow child, "Allow me to rephrase. This is the receipt of someone chartering an entire freighter to Albion on the Vatican dinar. Now what did you have to ship so desperately?"

"Ship? Why that is…" Abel eyes darted over to the muscled priest next to him, "I… I just simply can't seem to recall… Leon do you…?"

"Eh… I think I've forgotten as well…" Garcia laughed nevously.

"Is that so…" Caterina's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "Peter!"

"Yes Ma'am… er… your Eminence?" the boy looked ready to pass out when he heard his name unexpectedly called.

"You don't happen to know what was shipped do you?" she managed to make her voice a little gentler, a littler more motherly when she spoke to the boy. It really wasn't his fault he was caught up with these two morons after all, "And remember Peter, it's a sin to lie."

"What…" Peter gulped, his unease increasing when he felt Father Nightroad's hand clench tighter on his shoulder. Father Nightraod and the old man had assured him he wouldn't have to actually talk! "Well… umm… I wasn't really involved... in the freighter that is… I'm sorry..."

That was true enough… he wasn't involved in contacting the shipping company. So he hadn't lied… he just hadn't exactly answered the question.

"Then I can't approve this," the beauty sighed, "You two will have to pay for it on your own."

"B-but I'm a priest! I've taken vows of poverty!"

"Yeah and I'm in prison! How am I supposed to pay for this!"

And as the two grown men squabbled like elementary students, Caterina shook her head and looked at Peter who was staring in amazement at the two priests bicker. She stood up from her chair, carefully smoothing the wrinkles from her elegant scarlet robes and walked over to the boy placing a gentle hand on his head, almost motherly compared to the strictness she had displayed so far.

"I hope you didn't get the wrong impression of these two beforehand. They truly are childish," she offered Peter a somewhat strained smile, though the expression did wonders to help the lad ease up, "They're good judges of character though, and I trust them if they think highly enough of someone to bring them here. I suppose I should officially welcome you to the AX now. The new AX training division."

oOoOo

"_Peter, you should go with them you know."_

"_What do you mean Wendy?"_

_Peter stared at the girl who made his heart flutter. Even to his young and innocent eyes she was pretty and perfect and he really really liked her. And the girl that he really really liked was telling him to leave. He didn't know something like that could make him hurt so much. And the pain wasn't from the stomach wound he'd gotten earlier. No… it was a littler higher then that._

"_You know what I mean," the girl smiled gently, bending down a little so she could look the other child in the eyes, "I can tell you want to go with them. You want to grow up strong so you can protect people from harm. And you know if you go with them you can gain the strength you can't get here."_

"_B-but Wendy…" Peter stuttered, he still couldn't believe he was hearing these words. They were true though… but… he didn't want to leave her! "I'll miss y-"_

"_Peter!" the faerie put her hands on the human's shoulders, "You know it's the truth, and you'll never have this opportunity again. If you don't go now you and I both know you'll regret it for the rest of your life."_

"_But what if I never see you again?"_

_To answer that the girl lifted her small hands to her head, pulling the pretty silk ribbons out that had held her hair up in pigtails. She pressed them then into Peter's hands._

"_Wendy… these are your favorite though…" he looked at the red ribbons and then back to Wendy's face._

"_Yes… which is precisely why I'm giving them to you!" she replied firmly a warm smile playing at her lips, the wind blowing her unbound golden hair around, "Because they're my favorite I'm afraid that on the way to Albion they might fall into the sea. So I need you to keep them safe for me. And next time we see each other you can give them back."_

"_Wendy…" Peter looked up at the girl he liked, clutching her ribbons to his chest as if they were the greatest treasure in the world. To him at least they really were._

"_Go Peter…" the young lady said softly, only the slightest hint of sadness in her voice. She needed to at least look strong so this boy could go to where she believed his destiny awaited. She then leaned over to give the boy one final gift, a soft chaste kiss on his forehead._

_As if that was his cue, the boy nodded, and rubbed at his eyes that had begun to sting with the bite of unshed tears. He turned and darted down the gangplank just before the crew began to pull it up._

"_Old man!" he shouted as he ran to catch up with the two priests who were making their way back to their own clunker of a plane "Take me with you! I'm coming with you!"_

"_Eh?! Who are you calling old man?!" Dandelion growled turning around just as the boy crashed into him and grabbed hold of his robe, "And what the hell do you mean you're coming with us?"_

"_Peter!" the blonde's voice called out from the ship across the beach, "You better bring those back to me or I'll never forgive you!"_

oOoOo

All three breathed a sigh of relief when they finally left Caterina's office. It was like escaping from the den of lioness. Though all things said, it could have gone MUCH worse.

Peter reached into his pocket and pulled out the two red ribbons, smiling slightly to himself. He knew Wendy would be happy for him. He'd taken his first step to becoming someone who could protect many people.

"Hey…" Leon looked over at what the youth had in his hand, "Those belong to that Wendy girl, huh? She give you a kiss with that little present too? What a little womanizer you are. Only eleven and already an 'adult' huh?"

"What… what are you talking about old man?!" Peter could feel his face heat up, he knew without looking in a mirror that even his ears had gone completely red, "That's not-"

"Oh I'm right!" the burly man laughed heartily, reverting back to his jovial old self now that they were out of the clutches of the Duchess of Milan. He nudged the silver haired priest, "Hey Abel, you better warn all the Sisters to watch out for this one!"

"SHUT UP OLD MAN!"

oOoOo

**Aaaand… that's the end of the Prologue. So do you like it? Huh, huh? Most of it's probably not that interesting… the first half is basically just retelling the ending of the episode, but putting Peter into it. I promise the next few chapters will be more entertaining :3**

**If you enjoyed this I would love any comments so I can actually ell if anyone enjoyed it 3**


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